Senior star Larry Anderson is in “guarded” status for Big West Tourney.
5:45pm | One of those talking heads that fill the hours on ESPN likes to say that games aren’t as much about the X’s and O’s as it is about the Larry’s and Joes. Well for the future of 49er men’s basketball it may well be a lot less of Larry, as in four year franchise Niner and the team’s best defender Larry Anderson.
Yes indeed youngster Michael Caffey put up a career-high 20 points but in the bitter end at historic Titan Gym LBSU’s dream of an unbeaten Big West Conference season crumbled to the court like Anderson did in a 77-74 loss to Fullerton. The game was just for pride since the Beach had already clinched the conference “regular” season crown and a top seed date with woeful UC Davis. But Coach Dan Monson and the Beach brain trust want desperately that “irregular” crown, BWC tournament champions who get the automatic bid to the NCAA tourney (and the hundreds of thousands of bucks that would flow into the underfunded Niner budget.)
The future star Caffey made 7-of-11 shots, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, but it is the inside tag team of TJ Robinson and Anderson that would have surely won the game. In the facility poor gym at CSUF it was as painful for LB fans to watch their trainer Mark Pocinich try to fix his star in a hall way behind the gym, not exactly a proper training room. Some stand up taping and a jog to the door and back wasn’t convincing and Larry’s game was X-ed out with 13:54 to play. Further exams that Coach Monson reviewed indicated a knee strain with the pronouncement that his newly min9ited BWC defender of the year is “doubtful” this week.
Translated, it would seem that participation in the Thursday contest with UCD will be missed. After that, three other teams could pose problems for the Niners–UCSB, Riverside, and of course Fullerton (albeit not on their home court). The official word is he would be ready for the NCAA tourney the following weekend, but the Dust Wiki leaks department thinks that a Saturday game isn’t 100% ruled out.
Next of my complaints with sports clichés is that when a home team wins in their last at bat they call it a “walk off win.” Not always. The Dirtbags continued to play close games but Oregon used their speedy pinch running senior outfielder Vernell Warren for the Friday 9th inning 5-4 win and Saturday’s 3-2 win in 13 innings. On Sunday, wouldn’t you know it, another one run heart-breaker 8-7 (after a two run late lead) and I guess the winning run did “walk” off. This week has Tuesday vs. SDSU at home then a weekend visit from powerful Arizona State. The Beach is 4-7 on the year and yes, five of the Ls were by one run.
Back on campus Long Beach State tennis picked up two more wins including a 5-2 win over San Diego State on Friday, defeating the Aztecs 5-2 and then won a BWC affair on Saturday beating UC Davis also 5-2. That means that the No. 58 ranked 49ers improved to 8-3 overall and 4-0 in Big West play. Long Beach State faces a pair of ranked opponents this week, again playing one non-conference opponent and one Big West foe. The 49ers start by hosting Sacramento State at 2:00pm on Thursday before taking on UC Irvine at 2:00pm on Friday in what is traditionally a great rivalry match.
The other diamond workers are softball where it is puzzling to find Long Beach State (7-15) losing so regularly. The Beach returns to action this week it hosts the Long Beach State Invitational. The 49ers open play Thursday with a pair of games. They host Eastern Kentucky at 4:00pm and Oregon State at 7:00pm. LBSU also faces UCLA Friday at 7:00pm, North Carolina Saturday at 7:00pm and Charleston Southern Sunday at 3:45pm. All five Long Beach State games will be played at the Mayfair Softball Field in Lakewood.
There was some good news for the eighth-ranked Long Beach State men’s volleyball team when they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win on the road over No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, 22-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19, and 15-13. The team (9-8 overall and 5-7) is still fighting to make the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tourney. Senior Jim Baughman led the way with a season-high 22 kills, eight digs, five blocks and four service aces. Junior Trevor Crabb added 10 kills and seven digs, while classmate Colten Echave finished with eight kills and a .429 hitting percentage.
Long Beach State takes a break from MPSF action this weekend when it hosts the Active Ankle Tournament, March 9-10. The 49ers will face IPFW on Friday and Lewis on Saturday, with both matches starting at 7:00pm at the Walter Pyramid.
Senior Tipesa Moorer saved one of her best performances for her final game at the Walter Pyramid as she led the Long Beach State women’s basketball team to a thrilling 62-61 victory over Cal State Fullerton in front of a crowd of 1,039 Thursday evening.
Moorer and freshman Alex Sanchez were named to the 2011-12 All-Big West Women’s Basketball Team the conference office announced Monday morning.
Moorer was a second-team selection, while Sanchez garnered honorable mention recognition. Sanchez was also one of five members chosen to the All-Freshman Team.
Moorer earned her first career Big West honor after registering a team-high 13.3 points per game. Her average also ranks sixth in the conference. In addition, Moorer has made 42.9 percent of her shots and has pulled down 4.7 rebounds per outing.
See stories on the Big West tourney schedule and all conference honors elsewhere in this section.
Chopped Dust
George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated (he did the UCLA expose) was at the ‘Mid last week—is he doing a story on the Cinderella Niners next?…So that Thursday double header of senior day for ladies basketball and the bye-bye senior banquet for ladies volleyball stretched the 49er faithful from the Grand to the Mid. I will say that the red carpet work of the handsome ladies of the VB (all were very fashionable) from the tiny ones (like Tyler Jackson with her eight inch heels) to already tall enough Haleigh Hampton, who wore what she called “watermelon”. Hard to describe but almost anything these gals pull out of the closet looks good…Thanks to the iPhone we could track both sports albeit maddening with ten lead changes and 8, 9, and 10 point scoring runs. And just about the same time the last tears from senior speeches were dried, the 49er women had put the lady Titans away. And yes, the chicken was tasty.
In a move that would marginalize Big Ten baseball and drive away gifted ballplayers, U of Minnesota coach John Anderson says his conference should play in the summer and skip the College World Series…The rationale is clear: since Big Ten teams besides the winner of the conference tourney are rarely invited to the NCAA playoffs anyway, northern teams shouldn’t spend the money to compete on the traditional college-baseball calendar. Instead, Anderson argues the Big Ten should just play a summer schedule on its own. (Which, by the way, it is actually free to do under NCAA rules.)
Cal Poly students voted in favor of a proposed “Student Success Fee” last week…Of the 7,622 students who voted, 56.93 percent voted in favor and 43.07 percent voted against…SLO Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) president Kiyana Tabrizi said she was happy with the voter turnout, which at approximately 41 percent had a larger percentage of participation than the record-breaking ASI elections last year. At that time, 37 percent of the student body voted….the Fee vote, in the end, is an advisory vote — a fact that Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong reminded students about in an email to the student body last night. He referred to the results as “just one of several parts of the consultative process.”… If approved by the Chancellor, the Student Success Fee would begin in Fall 2012 at $160 and increase each year until it reached $260 in 2014. It is expected to bring in $14 million by its third year. Now let the games begin again.